


In the Shadows

by RetroactiveCon



Series: Hold Tight to What You Love [11]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Creepy Eobard Thawne | Harrison Wells, Kid Fic, M/M, Protective Leonard Snart, Protective Rogues (The Flash), Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:41:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22864999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RetroactiveCon/pseuds/RetroactiveCon
Summary: “What is it, baby?”“There’s someone in our room,” Nora says in a carrying whisper.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Series: Hold Tight to What You Love [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571482
Comments: 42
Kudos: 170





	1. Chapter 1

Leonard wakes to a gentle _patpatpat_ on his cheek. He opens one eye just enough to see Nora kneeling on the mattress. Michael is standing behind her, his tiny hands clasped in front of his belly. 

“What is it, baby?”

“There’s someone in our room,” Nora says in a carrying whisper. The words wake him as efficiently as an electrical jolt. There’s an intruder in his home, and moreover, his babies are in danger. 

“I’ve got it.” There’s a sleepy murmur from beside him and a flash of yellow light. Barely a heartbeat later, Barry’s warm weight presses against his side. “I didn’t see anything. The front door is still locked and nothing in the twins’ room looked out of place.” 

Nora flaps tiny panicked hands against Leonard’s chest. “There’s someone in our room!” she repeats. 

“Shh, Little Blue.” Leonard believes both of them. There are metahumans who can come and go without disturbing a locked door—Barry himself is one of them. If the twins say they saw something, he’s inclined to believe them. “Come here. Both of you cuddle up to me and Papa.”

Nora flings herself across him to cuddle up to Barry. He welcomes her with gentle kisses and coos, “Sweetheart. Let’s get Papa’s cutie girl back to sleep.”

Michael clambers onto Leonard’s chest and curls like a kitten. Leonard swaddles him in blankets and braces a hand against the back of his head. “I’ve got you. That’s right, little Mick, I’ve got you.”

The twins drift into a restless sleep. Leonard doesn’t. He stares into the darkness, listening for the slightest shift in the floorboards, until Barry murmurs, “What do you think?”

“I think they saw something.” Leonard rubs his hand over Michael’s tiny back. He mumbles something incoherent and flinches closer to Leonard’s chest. “You know as well as I do that not all metahumans are deterred by doors.” 

“I know.” Barry’s hand nudges against his elbow. “I just don’t understand what someone would want with the twins.”

“I don’t know, and I’m not eager to find out.” Leonard reaches down, finds Barry’s hand by its warmth, and twines their fingers together. A spark jumps between their palms, quick and sharp like a pinprick. Nora rustles, roused by the energy of Barry’s lightning.

“Shh, cutie girl,” Barry coos. “It’s okay. We’re right here.”

“Get some sleep.” Leonard rubs his thumb over Barry’s knuckles. “You have a busy day tomorrow.”

“You’re gonna keep watch?” Barry’s hand tightens around his. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll rest.” Leonard considers the opportunity to lie down enough of a break. Looking after small children will do that. “I’ll just sleep with one eye open.”

“Please don’t, it’s creepy.” As an attempt to lighten the mood, it falls a little flat. More quietly, Barry murmurs, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Scarlet.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next night, Nora and Michael crawl into what they call the “big bed” without asking. Leonard perches on the edge of the mattress and considers his terrified children. “You’re really afraid.”

Michael nods and curls up in Nora’s arms. She squeezes him protectively and insists, “There was someone in our room!”

“Just now?” Leonard glances toward the door. It’s been a long time since he used it, but the cold gun is in the top dresser drawer. He keeps it in perfect condition; it’s more than equal to freezing an intruder. 

“No, yesterday.” She buries her fingers in Michael’s short curls. He chirrups and squeezes her waist. “And they moved our stuffies. They took Teddy Barry!” 

“Oh, baby.” Leonard lays down and curls around both of them. They huddle against his chest, looking for warmth. “I promise, Papa and I will find out who it is. We’ll even get Teddy Barry back.”

Nora nods emphatically. Teddy Barry is her beloved stuffed companion in the way Hobbes is Michael’s: she’s seldom without him. He’s so named for his tiny Flash suit, lovingly handmade by Mark. Nora has had him for years. 

“Can I be a substitute for Teddy Barry tonight?” he asks. 

The twins cuddle impossibly closer. “Silly Abba,” Nora whispers. “You’re so much better than Teddy Barry.”

Leonard wraps both of them in blankets. Gradually, Michael shifts onto his chest as he did the previous night. Nora remains tucked against his side as though she feels safest under his arm. This is how Barry finds them five minutes later. 

“What happened to ‘we want our own room, Papa’?” 

Michael pops his head up from under the covers. “Our room has a creepy person in it.”

Barry, like Leonard, immediately looks toward the door. Leonard makes a soft sound to get his attention. “Not now, Scarlet. Last night spooked them.” He pauses to kiss Nora’s head. She mumbles sleepily and reaches a tiny hand up to rub Michael’s shoulder. 

Barry, like Leonard, softens at the sight of the terrified twins. “Okay, I guess. Don’t worry.” He sprawls on the bed, sandwiching Nora between his chest and Leonard’s side. “Abba and I will keep you safe.”

Unlike the night before, when Leonard kept a silent but wakeful vigil, he lets himself drift into an uneasy sleep. He wakes suddenly in the middle of the night. Nothing has changed—the twins are exactly where they were when he fell asleep, Barry is softly snoring, and none of them seem to have done anything that would wake him. Nonetheless, something is amiss. 

It’s the slightest shift of shadows—black on slightly lighter grey—that alerts him to the figure in the corner. Leonard’s blood turns to ice as effectively as if he shot himself with the cold gun. He can’t move for fear of waking the twins. Superstitiously, he feels that by staying as quiet as possible, he won’t provoke the lurking figure into anything dangerous. 

Nora rustles in her sleep and her lightning sparks. Leonard feels an inappropriate twinge of amused regret—this is something like the fifth set of sheets they’ll have to pitch due to lightning mishaps. Unlike when she sleeps in her own bed, the brief flare of her lightning causes Barry’s to spark, more of a glow than a true lightning bolt. In that illuminated moment, Leonard glimpses the figure: an adult man, slender like a runner, with tousled hair. It’s impossible to make out identifying features in the quick flash of light. After it fades, Leonard gets the sense that the man is gone. 

“Scarlet. _Scarlet.”_

“Hmm?” Barry snuffles. “Len? Wha—?” 

“The intruder is here. He’s in the apartment.”

Barry is gone in a flash of lightning. It doesn’t wake Michael, but it rouses Nora, who sits bolt upright with a little cry. 

“It’s okay,” Leonard soothes her. “It’s just your Papa, Little Blue. Go back to sleep.” 

Barry returns as quickly as he left. “He’s gone now,” he reports quietly. “I swept the whole building—no trace of anyone who looked suspicious.”

“The person from our room was here again?” Nora squiggles closer to Leonard’s side. He wraps his arm tightly around her. 

“It’s okay, they’re gone now. Papa and I will keep you safe.” To Barry, he asks, “Can you go in the top dresser drawer?”

He can hear Barry’s disapproving glare in the tone of his voice. “You want me to give you the cold gun while our children are asleep on you?” 

“I don’t see a better option.” He rubs his thumb over Nora’s shoulder. She shivers and whispers, 

“I’m scared.”

There’s the whisk of a drawer opening and closing. Reluctantly, Barry says, “It’s on the bookshelf beside you. You’ll be able to grab it while you’re lying down.”

“Thank you.” Leonard can rest easier knowing the next time the intruder appears, he’ll have his weapon close at hand. “Come back to bed, Scarlet. Let’s rest while we can.”


	3. Chapter 3

Two more nights pass peacefully. The twins stay both nights in the big bed, too afraid to return to their own room. Leonard keeps a watchful eye out, not just in the night, but during the day. If someone wants the twins, it’s possible they’ll make a move whenever they can catch the twins alone. 

He knows something is amiss when he arrives at the school to pick up the twins and finds them chatting happily with Harry. Two things are wrong with the tableau: Harry isn’t that relaxed around children (and probably never will be) and, more significantly, he’s also on Earth-2. 

“Mick! Little Blue!” He keeps his tone light and singsong. There’s no point in acting panicked and potentially putting the twins in more danger. 

“Abba!” Both twins whip around to face him. Michael runs unimpeded to his side. However, not-Harry lays a hand on Nora’s shoulder and keeps her still. 

“It’s rude to run away from a conversation.” He shoots a barely-disguised glare in Leonard’s direction. “Hasn’t your Abba taught you that?”

Nora squirms. “Ow! Uncle Harry, you’re hurting me.” 

Leonard lunges in and scoops her up. Not-Harry lets her go, albeit with a glare that promises retaliation. “Come on,” Leonard urges. He holds a hand down to Michael, who clings with uncommon urgency. It’s good to know the babies have sensed something is wrong; they might try to linger if they didn’t. “Let’s go.”

As he buckles them into their car seats, he warns the twins, “That wasn’t Uncle Harry, okay? That was someone pretending to be him.”

Nora sits bolt upright. “That’s the bad man who’s been in our room!” 

It is, and unfortunately, it provides the information Leonard has been missing. A disdain for doors and the face of a Wells: Eobard Thawne is back. Barry will be horrified. Even all these years later, he still flinches whenever Thawne's name is mentioned; telling him Thawne is back and after their children will overwhelm him. “It is. Michael, I won’t give you permission like this very often, but if that man comes into your room—”

“Pull strings?” Michael asks. 

Leonard nods. “Pull strings. Get out of the room if you can and come find me or Papa. If you can’t get out, get as far away from him as possible, yell as loud as you can, and pull strings to keep him away until I get there.” Guilt writhes in his chest. He shouldn’t be putting any responsibility on the babies for protecting themselves. They’re small and vulnerable, and if he can’t be there to protect them, what use is he? At the same time, they’re not helpless; treating them like they are will only put them in more danger if, for whatever reason, he can’t watch them all the time. 

“I’ll run,” Nora proclaims. “And I’ll push him like I did to Michael that one time, only with all my speed!” 

Leonard isn’t sure whether he should say this or not. Still, he feels the babies have a right to know. “That man is a speedster like you, Nora. I don’t know if speeding into him will hurt him.”

Michael squeaks and clutches Nora’s hand. “The bad man has lightning like Nora and Papa?” 

Leonard nods. “It’s okay,” he promises. “Papa has fought him before and won, and I’m going to take good care of both of you until he’s all gone.” 

The twins nod, matching solemn expressions on their round faces. Leonard kisses both of them on their chubby cheeks and murmurs, “You’re being so brave right now, but it’s okay to be scared, too.”

On the way back to the apartment, he checks the rearview mirror every few seconds, not to look for traffic but to make sure the twins are safe. The fourth or fifth time he does this, Nora catches his eye and offers a little smile. It’s such a Barry-like thing to do that it breaks his heart. 

When they get back home, Leonard convenes the Rogues. They arrive in ones and twos over the course of half an hour. Lisa, of course, is the first to show up. She bursts through the doors with a snarled, “Who’s threatening my niblings, and why am I only hearing about this now?” 

“Auntie Lisa!” Both twins run over from their halfhearted game of Lego Lumber Yard. She bends down and gathers both of them into a hug. 

“So who’s been putting my pretty babies in danger?” she asks them. 

“Bad man with lightning,” Michael reports. “He came into our room and watched us and today he was at school.”

Lisa glares up at Leonard. Fair; he should have let the Rogues know the moment Thawne first appeared in the twins’ room. “Oh, now that’s no good. Don’t worry, babies. All of the Rogues know how to handle speedsters. We learned by fighting your Papa, now, didn’t we?” 

Nora coos. She’s always been enchanted by stories of the Rogues’ early tussles with the Flash, far more than Michael ever is. That her father fought the rest of her extended family seems not to bother her. (Perhaps she thinks it’s all in fun, which, while mostly true, certainly wasn’t always the case.) 

When at last all the Rogues convene, Mark takes the twins into the living room and sits down to play Lumber Yard with them. Leonard takes the others aside and briefs them on the situation with Thawne. As soon as he says the name, Hartley bristles. “He’s back?”

“…Yes?” Leonard knew about Barry’s history with the Reverse-Flash (although not all of it; he gets the sense Barry omits some parts). He had no idea Hartley knew him. “Wait, that’s right. He was Wells.”

Hartley flinches and flings out gloved hands in frustration. “If he comes near any of you, I’ll blast him to atoms, just watch me.” 

“If you see him, feel free.” Leonard glances toward the living room. He can just see Mark pretending to charge one of Michael’s characters for his purchase of Legos. “Barry might never speak to me again for saying this, but I would rather see Thawne dead at my feet than risk him harming the twins.”

There’s a chorus of assent. With the Rogues on board, Leonard lays out a watch schedule. One of the Rogues will stay the night until Thawne is caught. They’ll remain on the sofa and watch from seven to midnight, during which time Leonard will sleep. At midnight, Leonard will wake and keep watch until morning. 

“I’ve got first watch,” Mick rumbles. “Nobody’s touching tiny Snarts while I’m here.” 

“Tiny Allens,” Lisa corrects. “Remember, Lenny was all ‘don’t put them through life with my name to hold them back.’” She frowns at him as though the idea is distasteful. (For the record, he advocated something similar when she sought a legal name change. He’s fairly sure she only kept the Snart surname because he told her not to.) 

“Tiny Snarts,” Mick insists. 

When Barry comes home, Leonard is faced with two impossible tasks: break the news that Eobard Thawne is back, and convince him to let Rogues spend the night on the sofa. He suspects that upon accomplishing the first, the second will be simple. Unfortunately, the thought of Barry’s reaction to the news turns Leonard’s tongue to lead. 

He’s spared having to explain by Nora running to Barry and yelling, “Papa there’s a bad speedster man at school and he looks like Uncle Harry!” 

Barry blanches. “No,” he whispers. “No, no, no, he can’t be back.”

Oblivious to the distress she’s just caused, Nora flings her arms around his legs and buries her face in his thigh. “He grabbed me, Papa!” 

“No.” This seems to snap Barry out of his shocked headspace, and not in a good way. When he scoops Nora into his arms, she winces and leans back. “No. He doesn’t get to touch you. Either of you.”

“Papa, that’s too tight.” 

Leonard walks over and scoops Nora out of Barry’s arms. She huddles against his chest, tucks her head into the crook of his neck, and quivers. “Scarlet, easy. I just found out today—I’d have told you sooner if I knew.” 

Barry draws in a ragged breath. “I…I suspected, I think, but I didn’t want to let myself…” He leans against Leonard’s other shoulder. With both of his arms around Nora, Leonard can’t embrace him. Instead, he rests his cheek against the top of Barry’s head. “I guess now I don’t have to ask why the Rogues are over.”

“Mick will be staying the night to keep watch,” Leonard ventures. 

Barry nods. “He’s welcome to the sofa. Just…whatever it takes to stop him, I’ll do it.”

“‘Whatever’?” Leonard asks. “No do-gooder limits? No ‘you can’t do _whatever_ it takes’?” He doesn’t want to use the word ‘murder’ around Nora, although he’s sure she’ll get the gist of what he’s implying. 

Barry makes an unhappy sound. “I should say ‘no, there are limits,’ but I…I can’t. After everything Thawne has done…do whatever needs to be done.”

That should unsettle Leonard more than having limits. In no world should his sweet, optimistic husband give him license to kill. “Scarlet…”

“I want them safe.” Barry rubs a hand over Nora’s back. She chirrups and cuddles closer to both of them. “Whatever it takes.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter involves Thawne taking one of the twins, and while he doesn't have them for very long, he's physically abusive to them during that time. If you don't want to read that, please take care of yourself and don't keep reading!

That night, Mick settles on the sofa. Leonard brings the twins to the big bed, cuddles up with them, and reads them _Maiden and Princess_ at Michael’s request. By the time he’s finished, Nora looks drowsy. Michael, who’s still awake, whispers, “If the bad lightning man comes back, Uncle Mick will stop him?”

Leonard nods. “Or Papa or I will. All you have to do is go to sleep and not worry.”

Michael mumbles softly and shifts around on Leonard’s chest. Presently, he adds, “I worry.”

By the time Barry gets into the room, the twins are sound asleep. Leonard is drifting in a hazy, dreamlike state, unsure what’s real and what’s not. This is the only reason he doesn’t panic when Barry slips under the covers and cuddles him. 

“Good night, Len.” 

Leonard hums softly. “’Night, Scarlet.”

He doesn’t remember when he falls asleep, only that all too soon, his alarm goes off. He silences it with the hand not intertwined with Barry’s and stares into the darkness. All is peaceful; he can’t even see faint darker outlines like the eerie Reverse shadow of several nights ago. 

For no reason he can discern, Nora’s lightning flares again. Around it, almost intertwined with it, he sees a glint of red. Too late, he reaches for the cold gun. Nora’s tiny body blurs into motion, and when Leonard grabs for her, his hand goes through her. The next second, she’s disappeared—yanked through the wall by vibrating, yellow-and-black-clad hands. 

“Scarlet, he’s got Nora!” 

Barry is on his feet in an instant. Michael, who slid off Leonard’s chest in the commotion, wakes with a cry. “Nora!” 

Despite the rage pounding through him—the desperate primal need to shatter Thawne into tiny frozen pieces—Leonard forces himself to relax. Barry can’t run with him if he’s to keep up to Thawne, and Michael needs soothed. He has to stay put. “Go, Scarlet.”

Barry disappears in a flash of yellow. Michael seems not to notice him go. Instead, he burrows into Leonard’s chest and sobs. “Nora!” 

“It’s all right, Mick.” Leonard forces himself to gentle his voice and coo. “Papa will get Nora back. She’ll be safe again, I promise. Just go to sleep for now, okay?” 

Michael shakes his head and gives a little weepy hiccup. “I should have pulled strings!” he sobs. 

“Oh.” Leonard’s heart breaks. This is his fault. He should never have made Michael think it was his duty to stop Thawne in any capacity. “No, little Mick. You were asleep. It was my job to protect you and Nora, and I failed.” 

Michael sobs and clings more tightly to him. His crying muffles Mick’s pounding footsteps, at least until the door swings open upon a massive, backlit figure. “What happened?” Mick rumbles. “Red blew past me—did that other speedster get in?”

“He took Nora,” Leonard admits. Then, reluctantly, he adds, “He was too fast for me.” 

“I’ll roast him,” Mick vows. “You know I will.” Only then does he notice Michael’s sobbing. “Oh, no, other tiny Snart. No, come here.”

Michael flinches away and clings to Leonard to the point of pain. “No!” he shrieks. “I want Nora back!” 

“Shh, baby.” Leonard rubs his hand over Michael’s heaving back. “Your Papa will get Nora back.”

A whirl of yellow lightning heralds Barry’s return. No sooner has he skidded to a stop than he bursts out, “I lost them. I lost—I lost our daughter.” 

Leonard stiffens. He trusted Barry to have enough speed to catch up to Thawne. Without that, what are they going to do? 

“I lost her!” Barry yells. Unexpectedly, he slams his fist into his pillow. Michael flinches and whimpers. Leonard snarls,

“Scarlet, be still!” 

“This is your fault!” Barry whirls on him. His lightning rises up in response to his anger, crackling around him like overzealous static. “You were supposed to keep watch! You had the cold gun right there, you could have stopped him!” 

Leonard can’t deny that. He knows Barry wants him to lash out in response—when he gets frustrated, he unfailingly tries to provoke an argument. Right now, with Michael terrified and traumatized, isn’t the time for a fight. “I know that, Scarlet. Which way did they run?”

“Which way—” Barry makes a little helpless noise. “They could be anywhere by now! Thawne could have taken her to the future with him to raise her there.”

Leonard won’t allow himself to consider the possibility. His daughter has to be somewhere he can find her. If he’s clever—if he plans, and if he enlists the Rogues’ help—he’ll be able to get her back. “Which way did they run?”

Barry sighs. “Toward the docks,” he admits. “I don’t know why.”

Abandoned storage facilities seem like the ideal place to keep a tiny kidnapped speedster. Some of them might have suppressor tech; others might have a cooling unit perfect for stripping away Nora’s speed. Leonard will call the Rogues to reconnoiter them before dawn. “All right. Call Joe, call Wally and Eddie and Iris. We need as many eyes on this as possible. Call Cisco, ask if he’s vibed anything useful.” 

Barry disappears in a blur of lightning. In his absence, Leonard gets out of bed and scoops Michael into his arms. “I need you to go to Uncle Mick, okay?” he coos. “Uncle Mick is gonna look after you while Papa and I go find Nora.”

Michael sniffles, but obediently, he latches onto Mick and clings. It’s funny to watch Mick soften, even in silhouette; his broad shoulders relax and his head dips down. “I gotcha,” he rumbles. “Don’t you worry. Now that your Abba has a mission, he won’t give up until Little Blue is back.” 

The Rogues arrive in minutes, most of them shuttled by Sam through the mirror dimension. As soon as they’re all present, Leonard lays out the dilemma. Instantly, there are demands that Thawne be made to pay. 

“Barry says he was running toward the docks.” Leonard pulls out an old paper map of Central City that they still periodically use to plan heists. The Rogues cluster around it and watch him indicate Thawne’s trajectory on the map. “Now, as Barry points out, he’s so fast that he could be anywhere, but the docks are as good a place as any to start.”

“No.” Hartley shakes his head. “I don’t believe that. Thawne was… _is_ a man who likes his creature comforts, and he’s ill at ease without tech. Unless he has a very good reason, he won’t hole up in a warehouse.”

Leonard taps on the map, indicating an abandoned Mercury Labs shipping unit along Thawne’s path. “Even one that promises cutting-edge tech?”

Lisa glowers. “Go or don’t, Hartley, but we’re not skipping a location if there’s even a chance my niblings are there.”

“I’m with you on that,” Mark rumbles. 

“I can get us there,” Shawna offers. 

“No.” Leonard waves a hand as though pushing her offer aside. “I need you in top shape. If Nora is there, take her and get as far away as you can. The rest of us will stay and make Thawne regret fucking with our family.”

Sam transports them to a shipping warehouse near the Mercury unit. Only then does he try to peer inside. “Nothing,” he pronounces after stepping out of the mirror dimension. 

“There’s nothing reflective in there?” Roscoe crosses his arms. “I find that hard to believe.”

“No, there was.” Sam shudders. Leonard decides not to ask about the nature of the reflective surface—maybe it was warped or dusty. “And nothing. No Nora, no Thawne.”

Hartley wheels on Leonard. “See?” he demands. “Outside of Team Flash, I’m the one who knows him best. Are you going to listen to me when I say he’s not at the docks?”

“Then where is he?” 

The answer, it seems, is nowhere. They split up to reconnoiter the places Hartley suggests: Thawne’s old house, which has long stood empty; Mercury Labs, where they’re greeted coolly by Dr. Christina McGee; and STAR Labs, in coordination with Team Flash. 

“I don’t often say this,” Cisco says. His hair is rumpled and his t-shirt is inside out; he clearly bolted out of bed at a moment’s notice. “But Hartley is right. Thawne built STAR Labs. It’s the one place he’s always felt in control—”

“And he thrives on control,” Hartley finishes. 

Cisco sighs and hangs his head. “He’s in the Time Vault again, isn’t he?” 

Leonard has heard of the Time Vault but never been in it. He didn’t think it was a particularly good place to hide; its advantage was in the fact that no one knew about it, not in difficulty to find or in hidden nooks in the interior. When they get there, this is the case. Barry checks with Gideon, who claims to be unable to help. 

“Your computer is a little suspicious,” Leonard notes. 

Barry snarls. “Another thing Thawne stole. She was mine originally, and now…” He flings out helpless hands. “This is a waste of time!” 

“I’m gonna go down where we set our speedster trap that one time,” Cisco suggests. “If he needs a place to keep Nora locked up, the speedster trap would work.” He links hands with Lisa. “Can you come with me? I don’t, uh, trust myself to beat Thawne on my own.”

“Could he have shut Nora in one of those cells?” Shawna shudders. Even years after the fact, her stint in a Pipeline cell still haunts her. “That would keep her in one place pretty effectively.”

“I don’t think so. We have ultimate control over those cells—if we knew she was in there, we’d be able to get her out,” Cisco interjects. 

Hartley’s face hardens. “I know where she might be.”

They split up. Cisco, Lisa, Mark, Roscoe, and Sam go to check the speedster trap. There are sufficient reflective surfaces for Sam to escape with Nora at need, and the large room gives Mark space to generate lightning without potentially frying his teammates. Leonard, Barry, Shawna, and Axel follow Hartley into the Pipeline. 

“You think he’s keeping her where he kept Eddie,” Barry realizes. 

Hartley hunches his shoulders. “It wouldn’t be the first time he’s stored someone in there until they could be useful to him.”

“Guys?” Cisco’s voice crackles over the comms in Barry’s suit. “Get up here!” 

Shawna grabs Axel and Hartley by the shoulders. “I’ve got them,” she tells Barry. “You take him.”

This is Leonard’s only warning before the world disappears in a blur of light. They skid to a stop in a massive, somewhat cluttered room. In the middle of it stands an enormous, hideous-looking forcefield generator. In the middle of the forcefield, thoroughly trapped, is Nora. 

“Papa look out!” she shrieks. This is the only warning before a blur of red lightning streaks into Barry. Leonard whips around, cold gun aimed at the storm of colorful lightning, but he dare not fire lest he hit Barry.

“Shawna, don’t!” This is Cisco. It’s a timely but ultimately fruitless warning. Shawna either doesn’t hear or doesn’t listen; instead, she teleports into the middle of the forcefield. Nora runs to her, wraps tiny arms around her, and begs to be teleported free. After three failed tries, it’s clear Shawna can’t get out. 

“Can you turn off the field?” Lisa appeals to Cisco. 

“I’m trying, but he’s passcode protected it, and it isn’t ‘Big Belly Burger’ anymore.” Cisco taps irritably at a screen. Not far away, Mark raises his hands. 

“Then let me.”

“Oh hell!” It isn’t a ‘no,’ merely an exclamation of shock as Cisco grabs Lisa by the waist and yanks her away from the bank of monitors. They leap across the room just before Mark sends a lightning bolt squarely into the computer. The forcefield flickers and dies. Shawna disappears in a puff of smoke. 

“No!” The shout precedes a change in the whirl of lightning. Barry is thrown back, knocks his head against the frame of the speedster trap, and slumps, dazed. Thawne bolts across the room toward Mark, who meets him with a lightning bolt. Like Barry, Thawne isn’t immune to lightning strikes just because of the Speed Force. He's flung helplessly backwards. Leonard estimates his trajectory. By the time he impacts the wall, a blast from the Cold Gun is aimed at that precise spot. No sooner has Thawne hit the wall than he’s frozen in place.

“You know.” Thawne struggles against the ice encasing his torso. “A most…ingenious device, really. But in your hands?” He glances toward the forcefield generator, where Barry is beginning to stir. Implicitly, he’s including Nora, who until recently was trapped therein. “How long before you use it against your family?” 

Leonard strides across the room. He can’t remember the last time he was this enraged, so furious it feels like calm. “You will never know,” he says coldly. “Because no one hurts my family and survives.” 

Thawne’s eyes flick over his shoulder toward Barry. “I told you,” he says. Leonard is confused until he remembers the whirl of lightning. They might have been talking while they fought—no non-speedster could tell. “You settled for a murderer.”

“Better the murderer who’s capable of love,” Barry snaps back. 

It’s as good as permission. Leonard fires the cold gun directly into Thawne’s heart—the same quick but merciless death he gave Lewis. There’s just enough time for him to glance once again at Barry and whisper, “You’ll always wonder,” before the light fades from his eyes. 

“So we’re allowed to kill people now?” Axel asks cheerfully. 

“If they’re Thawne?” Cisco says with a shudder. “Hell yes.” 

It takes Lisa’s hand on his shoulder to snap Leonard out of the weird, icy-calm headspace he slips into when he kills. She scans his face with wide, worried eyes, then nods at Barry. “Go to him, Lenny. He needs you. I’m going to go see my niece.” 

Barry drifts over to him the moment Leonard approaches. He burrows into an embrace on autopilot, not returning it as much as standing there. Leonard rubs a thumb against the nape of his neck. “What did he say to you, Scarlet?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Barry’s voice is faint. Whatever Thawne said to him, it’s locked him into a headspace that worries Leonard. “I need to go see Nora. I have to know that he didn’t hurt her.”

They find Nora in the old breakroom nestled between Lisa and Shawna. She calls out when they enter the room but doesn’t scamper over to embrace them. Instead, they run to her. Leonard scoops her up, clutches her to his shoulder, and whispers “You’re safe” into her wind-snarled curls. 

“Abba he took me and his lightning was red and he locked me away,” she sobs. “He told me I had to be a good girl for him and then he would be good to me and teach me but I didn’t _want_ that! I wanted you and Papa and Michael!” 

“Did he hurt you?” Barry demands. He runs his hand desperately over her tiny back as though feeling for some kind of physical change. 

In answer, she lifts her head and lets both of them see a fading bruise on her cheek. Because of her speed-healing, the lingering purple tinge speaks to both how recent and forceful Thawne’s hit must have been. 

“He will never hurt you like this again,” Leonard promises. 

Nora sniffles and buries her face in his neck. “I was so scared, Abba. I wasn’t brave, and I didn’t use my speed. I just wanted you.” 

“Honey, it’s not your job to be brave all the time.” That’s Lisa, who’s gotten to her feet and drifted closer to them. She lays her hand on Nora’s shoulder and rubs a soothing thumb over the sharp jut of her scapula. “It’s okay that you were scared.”

Barry presses closer, shielding Nora from behind. This squeezes her between their bodies. Finally, with the pressure and security to soothe her, she calms. 

“I want Michael,” she says. 

Leonard nods. He can only imagine how Michael must feel right now, panicked for Nora and with no one but Mick to soothe him. “Let’s go see him, then. Scarlet, can you—”

“No!” Nora yells. She’s instantly apologetic. “Sorry, too loud, sorry.”

“You don’t want to run?” Barry checks. His expression is hurt, but he’s careful to keep his voice neutral. 

“If I run by myself,” she mumbles. “But I’m too small to go running alone, and I don’t…I wanna be able to know where we’re going.” She hangs her head as though she thinks she’s done something bad. Leonard can’t let her think that. 

“Of course, Little Blue. We’ll have Uncle Mick come pick us up in the van. Does that sound okay?” 

She nods emphatically. Leonard nudges his nose against hers. 

“Go to Papa, okay?” he asks softly. “I have to go call Uncle Mick. Papa and your aunties will keep you safe.”

Nora shifts her grasp to cling to Barry instead. He takes her and rocks her back and forth fast enough to blur. “Got you,” he whispers. “I’ve got you, you’re safe.”

Leonard steps out of the room to call Mick. The last thing he hears is Nora’s soft, “Keep rocking, please, Papa.”


	5. Chapter 5

Mick arrives half an hour later with Michael in tow. As soon as Mick lets him out, Michael runs over and clasps Nora in a tight hug. “Blue!” 

She burrows into his arms with a little sob. Mick scoops them both, still locked in an embrace, and carries them to the van. “Hey, tiny Snarts.”

“Uncle Mick!” She huddles into his arms. Michael keeps petting her even after she stops hugging him, cooing “Blue” repeatedly under his breath. 

“I’ll sit with them on the ride back,” Barry offers. “That way Nora knows she’s really safe.”

Leonard suspects it’s as much for his benefit as Nora’s, but he won’t call him out yet. The focus has to be on the twins first. Later, once Nora feels safe, he can make time to soothe his little Scarlet. 

The ride home is subdued. About halfway through, Leonard gets a call. He answers with a brusque “Hello,” unsure who it is, and is surprised to hear Hartley’s oddly congested voice. 

“We, uh. We found out where Thawne was hiding all this time. Also you can tell Nora Shawna will bring her Teddy Barry tonight.”

Thawne was hiding down in the room under the Pipeline. It follows logically, both from what Leonard knows of Thawne and from Hartley’s teary tone. He certainly didn’t need to go back to the hidden room; no doubt he wanted answers and happened to find Teddy Barry along the way. 

“Thank you,” he says gently before hanging up. Then he turns to Nora to break the good news. “Little Blue, Uncle Hartley found your Teddy Barry. Auntie Shawna will bring him over tonight.” 

Nora shakes her head listlessly. “I don’t know if I want him back, Abba.”

She might not—he has too much association with Thawne now. Leonard is sorry on her behalf but by no means about to force her to do otherwise. “Okay. You can make that choice when Auntie Shawna brings him this evening. If you don’t want him, you’ll never see him again.”

As it turns out, Nora does want him back. When Shawna shows up with a (slightly bedraggled-looking) Teddy Barry in her arms, Nora runs to her, gives her a perfunctory hug, and clings to Teddy Barry as though he’s her sole lifeline. This once, Leonard makes an exception in the twins’ bedtime to let Nora take Teddy Barry to the movies. They watch the twins’ comfort movie—an old Winnie the Pooh film—until Nora falls into an exhausted sleep. Despite evident drowsiness, Michael forces himself to keep his eyes open. 

“What are you doing, little Mick?” Leonard sits down beside him and pulls him into his lap. Michael yawns, nods a bit, and forces himself to wake up. 

“I have to watch for the bad lightning man,” he explains. “Have to…hmm…keep Nora…keep Nora safe.” His eyes flutter closed. The next time he forces them open, his eyelids are almost too heavy to stay up. 

“Little Mick.” Leonard kisses his brow. “The bad lightning man is all gone. Papa and I fought him, huh? With all the Rogues. All of us want to keep you safe. You just have to sleep. Just like Nora, okay?”

Michael mumbles something that might be an affirmative. His head nods against Leonard’s chest, and this time, he doesn’t force it back up. 

“Is it bedtime?” Barry asks. He looks down at Nora, who’s curled with her head in his lap. Leonard nods. 

“Bedtime for bitties, I think.”

The twins don’t stir when they’re carried to the big bed. Leonard settles them in the middle of the mattress and swaddles them in blankets. As soon as they’re laid side-by-side, they scoot closer to each other, the way they’ve done ever since they were babies. Nora slips her finger into Michael’s mouth. This time, he does the same for her. 

“Now.” Leonard doesn’t want to leave the room lest the twins wake and panic. He settles on the end of the bed and beckons Barry down beside him. Barry sits, tucks one leg up underneath himself, and huddles as though he’s cold. “Thawne said something to you while the two of you fought, didn’t he, Scarlet?” 

Barry shudders and speaks in a low voice so he doesn’t wake the twins. “Basically he said I whored myself out to the first villain that would have me, that I’ve got a thing for bad guys and I’m bad because of it, and that he wishes the twins were his.”

Not a single word of that comes remotely close to being okay. Leonard wishes, not for the first time, that he’d killed Thawne slowly by breaking off little frozen pieces while he yet lived. “He _what?”_

“I had a crush on him, okay, back when I thought he was Wells.” Barry curls in on himself. “I would have let him do whatever he wanted, and he knows it, and he just…” He shivers. “I’ll never get him out of my head. That’s the sick part. He always wins, even when he loses, because I keep _thinking_ about him and it makes me sick.” 

Leonard understands a little bit—he feels that way about Lewis, haunted by his shadow even years after his death—but he can only imagine the exquisite agony of Thawne’s long game. Barry must hate himself for the feelings he had for Thawne-Wells even when he didn’t know better. Thawne hinting that he wishes he’d fucked Barry while he had the chance is only the crowning jewel of a revolting situation. 

“He’s never going to touch you or the twins again,” he promises. It isn’t enough. Thawne should never have had the chance to come near them. He should have killed him before Barry ever had to know he was back. 

“It’s not even that.” Barry leans close to him. Leonard wraps an arm around his waist and squeezes. “He put that in my head and now I can’t stop thinking about it and it _hurts.”_ He presses his head against Leonard’s shoulder until there’s a twinge of pain. Leonard makes gentle hushing sounds, trying to soothe him. 

“Oh, Scarlet.” 

“I don’t want it, I—the hyperfocusing is hurting and I’m bad and he had so much time with Nora, I hate that, what did he say to her, did he get in her head like he’s in mine I couldn’t protect her she’s my baby—”

“Scarlet.” Leonard cups his face and coaxes him to look up. This is one of the rare times he’ll push Barry for eye contact, and it’s—slowly—given. “Don’t let your thoughts spiral like that. Thawne is manipulative and hateful, and he might have said something to scare Nora. I can’t deny that. But whatever he said, she has you and me and all the rest of her family to remind her that she’s safe now.” 

“Safe,” Barry echoes. His hands grip Leonard’s wrists, forcefully at first but relaxing the longer he’s held. “We’re safe. Nora’s safe.” 

Leonard coaxes him into bed. With the twins in dire need of cuddles, he can’t devote as much attention to Barry as he wants to. Instead, he settles for clasping hands over the twins’ tiny heads. “I’m right here, Scarlet,” he murmurs. “I’ll keep you safe.”

None of them sleep well. Leonard wakes in the early hours of the morning to Nora’s sobbing. “Little Blue?” 

She clambers over Michael to huddle in Leonard’s arms. “I was all alone,” she sobs. “He took me away and I was alone again!” 

“Shh.” Leonard cuddles her until her sobs subside. “You’re not alone, Little Blue. Papa and Michael and I are right here. And I promise, the bad lightning man will never touch you again.”

In a whisper, she confides, “He said you were a bad Abba and that he wanted me to not see you again.”

Leonard will never call himself a good father—that will always remain to be proven—but he can at least say, “Well, he didn’t get to take you away from me for very long, huh?” When she sniffles, he asks, “How about you sleep right here on my chest. That way if you wake in the night, you’ll know I’m right here.”

She nods. Like Michael had earlier in the evening, she makes an admirable attempt to stay awake. Before long, though, she relaxes and lets out a little sleepy whiffle reminiscent of Barry. 

“There,” Leonard coos. He can’t promise her that it will get better; it won’t, or at least not right away. What he can say, and will say until she believes it, is “You’re safe. I’ve got you, Little Blue. You’re safe.”


End file.
